Brain changes: aerobic exercise for traumatic brain injury rehabilitation

Taylor Snowden; Jamie Morrison; Meike Boerstra; Eric Eyolfson; Crystal Acosta; Erin Grafe; Hannah Reid; Justin Brand; Matthew Galati; Judith Gargaro; Brian R Christie

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2023.1307507

Brain changes: aerobic exercise for traumatic brain injury rehabilitation

Front Hum Neurosci. 2023 Dec 20:17:1307507. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1307507. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Division of Medical Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
² Brain Changes Initiative, Concord, ON, Canada.
³ KITE Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Island Medical Program and Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, The University of British Columbia, Victoria, BC, Canada.

Abstract

Introduction: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) accounts for millions of hospitalizations and deaths worldwide. Aerobic exercise is an easily implementable, non-pharmacological intervention to treat TBI, however, there are no clear guidelines for how to best implement aerobic exercise treatment for TBI survivors across age and injury severity.

Methods: We conducted a PRISMA-ScR to examine research on exercise interventions following TBI in children, youth and adults, spanning mild to severe TBI. Three electronic databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, and Web of Science) were searched systematically by two authors, using keywords delineated from "Traumatic Brain Injury," "Aerobic Exercise," and "Intervention."

Results: Of the 415 papers originally identified from the search terms, 54 papers met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. The papers were first grouped by participants' injury severity, and subdivided based on age at intervention, and time since injury where appropriate.

Discussion: Aerobic exercise is a promising intervention for adolescent and adult TBI survivors, regardless of injury severity. However, research examining the benefits of post-injury aerobic exercise for children and older adults is lacking.

Keywords: TBI intervention; aerobic exercise; aerobic intervention; concussion; traumatic brain injury.

Publication types

Systematic Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by a Special Purpose Grant, awarded from Branch Out Neurological Foundation to TS, with funds for this award provided by the Brain Changes Initiative. BC was supported by grants from CIHR.